700 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



Boston agency for this charitable use 

 by a rich " Quaker Aid Society " of 

 Virginia. Mrs. Howe refused to tell 

 how the funds thus derived were in- 

 vested, because, as she craftily said, 

 " she was afraid of the displeasure of 

 her superior officers." Yet, thorough- 

 ly baseless as was the project which 

 could give no open account of itself, 

 and utterly absurd as were its prom- 

 ises, it nevertheless had a rushing suc- 

 cess. Each new depositor had to be 

 introduced by a previous depositor. 

 There was a great show of strictness 

 in inquiring into tlieir fitness. The 

 first depositors, when they had got 

 their enormous interest, reported it to 

 their friends, and the craze spread rap- 

 idly among the Boston women to avail 

 themselves of the speculation. That 

 they were the recipients of a charity 

 made no difference. The bank would 

 have nothing to do with men, and con- 

 stantly encouraged the idea that wom- 

 en were abundantly capable of trans- 

 acting their own business without mas- 

 culine advice. And so money poured 

 in by the thousands. The big interest 

 was paid out of the influx, and if a 

 depositor w^anted her money back she 

 could have it any day but Sunday, and 

 with it she got the curt notice that she 

 need not apply again. The result was 

 that the "miserable old rogue," with 

 her "swindling savings-bank," in the 

 course of a few months drew from the 

 pockets of ten or twelve hundred New 

 England women no less than half a 

 million dollars. The "Boston Adver- 

 tiser" at length attacked the concern 

 vigorously, and it collapsed in three 

 weeks. A few of the earlier deposi- 

 tors received their large interest, and 

 got out also with their principal ; but 

 when the scheme was puslied into in- 

 solvency there remained only five per 

 cent, of their investments for some 

 eight hundred depositors. 



As was natural, the women who 

 had walked into this trap and lost their 

 money were roundly denounced for 



their credulity and business incapacity. 

 Miss Dodge resents this charge in her 

 usual spirited way, launches profuse in- 

 vectives upon the men who broke up 

 the fraud, and, while not excusing Mrs. 

 Howe, defends her sex from the assaults 

 of masculine " insolence, ignorance, and 

 stupidity." She proposes to show that 

 " the history of the Ladies' Deposit does 

 not demonstrate the credulity of wom- 

 en, the immorality of women, or the 

 educational or political incapacity of 

 women." If not successful in proving 

 these positions, she, at any rate, shuts 

 the mouth of her masculine critics by 

 showing that men too are abundantly 

 imposed upon and cheated, and are 

 therefore credulous and stupid as well 

 as the women. 



The subject is here widened, and our 

 chief interest in the affair relates to this 

 aspect of it. What are the conditions 

 that made this transaction possible ? 

 "What are the causes that led to it and 

 which lead to other kindred results? 

 The particular event has passed away, 

 and in itself is of but little moment; 

 but what sort of a tree is that which 

 bears such fruit? The state of mind 

 that produced it still continues, and 

 we may expect the same things to be 

 done again and again, with only a 

 change of names, forms, and tactics. 

 That which has just now had a con- 

 spicuous feminine expression is by no 

 means w^holly an affair of sex, but is 

 a common phenomenon. The Ladies' 

 Deposit was in ftict but a drop in the 

 bucket compared with the omnipresent 

 impostures and cheats of all grades and 

 qualities which are transacted every- 

 where. What is the condition of mind 

 which leads to them? 



We state nothing new in saying that 

 such impostures as Howe's bank prove 

 a widespread deficiency in mental cul- 

 tivation. It has been urged that there 

 is a gross want of instruction in our 

 schools in the elementary principles of 

 economics, a knowledge of which would 

 serve as a protection in emergencies of 



